BILL REIBOLDT: Owing a debt of gratitude to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Tuesday

Jan 29, 2013 at 12:16 AMJan 29, 2013 at 12:18 AM

On Monday, Jan. 21, we celebrated the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King dedicated his life to the belief that we are all created equal, and he promoted that message through love and peaceful demonstrations and by advancing the understanding that a person of any race should be judged not by the color of his or her skin, but by the content of that person's character.

On Monday, Jan. 21, we celebrated the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King dedicated his life to the belief that we are all created equal, and he promoted that message through love and peaceful demonstrations and by advancing the understanding that a person of any race should be judged not by the color of his or her skin, but by the content of that person's character.

Our nation owes a debt of gratitude for all he did to help us in the movement toward a more equal state, though we have to admit that much sought-after equality really hasn't been achieved, especially when we consider the on-going tragedy of legalized abortion, the death of the innocent unborn.

On Jan. 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision, Roe v. Wade, that gave the constitutional right to a woman to choose whether or not to have an abortion. It has now been 40 years since Roe v. Wade, and more than 55 million tiny, precious lives have been lost. Friday of this past week, marked the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., an event that has taken place every year since that fateful decision forty years ago.

Legalized abortion is the law of the land; however, many Americans still believe this practice should have no part in a civil society. Many believe it is the responsibility of our society to protect the unborn, and that they deserve equal protection under the law. Many believe the unborn have the same basic right to life as every other one of us have.

In 1965, the debate was about women' reproductive rights and contraception. The Planned Parenthood organization was promoting birth control. At that time, they were against abortion, or at least they publicly stated they were. Their two main reasons were, first, some of their members and directors were very much opposed to abortion; second, Planned Parenthood didn't wish to hurt their ongoing campaign to promote birth control by advocating for the legalization of abortion. They attempted to tie in the Civil Rights Movement for blacks and minorities with the reproductive rights for women in order to gain momentum.

On May 5, 1966, Dr. King was awarded the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's first Margaret Sanger Award, an award given to recognize leadership and excellence in the reproductive rights movement. Though Dr. King was unable to be present to accept the award, his wife accepted it for him, and in accepting it Mrs. King stated that there was a striking kinship between the Civil Rights Movement and the campaign for women's health rights.

While Dr. King supported birth control, he never supported abortion or its legalization. All the available evidence shows that he was staunchly against abortion, and most certainly against it as a form of birth control. In many of his speeches he denounced abortion as a form of genocide. Planned Parenthood used Dr. King in order to promote birth control and family planning, practices he agreed with, believing it was important to many black families.

However, Dr. King was assassinated before Roe v. Wade became law, and he never knew abortion was legalized in this country. Today it is unfortunate that pro-choice groups and advocates of abortion would attempt to use his memory to promote legalized abortion, a practice with which he most certainly disagreed.

Planned Parenthood is taking taxpayer's money to promote abortion. In Missouri they are leaders in the movement to increase the number of chemical abortions, abortions resulting from the use of drugs like RU 486 and others. Last session, laws were passed to regulate and restrict the use of chemical drugs to produce abortion.

This session, legislation dealing with webcam and Skype abortions will be filed.

If you are aware of this type of abortion, you know that webcam and Skype abortions are abortions that are done via a video-conferencing system. An abortionist is at one location and uses a closed circuit TV to talk with a woman who is at another location about having this procedure. Following a "consultation," the doctor will push a button to open a drawer, which contains an abortion-inducing drug. The mother will retrieve the drug on her end of the webcam or Skype conference, take some of it immediately, and then be released to leave and take the rest of the drug at home. The woman taking the abortion-inducing drug is never physically examined by the licensed physician, and in case of an emergency, she has no accessibility to the one who prescribed the drug.

Senate Bill 175, followed by a House Bill —that has yet to be filed but which will contain the same language — will specify that an abortion-inducing drug given by a physician must be administered in the same room and in the physical presence of the physician who prescribed, dispensed, or otherwise provided the drug — or chemical — to the patient. Furthermore, it will ban all webcam or Skype abortions. Many of the webcam and Skype abortionists are located in Iowa. To date, six states have banned webcam and Skype abortions. Missouri is seeking to join this number. Personally, I support all legislation that would hinder or prevent abortions in our state, as I believe them to be the taking of an innocent life, and therefore unjust.

To quote Dr. King, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." We must as a nation stop what we are doing to these innocent, helpless ones who have no voice of their own, the ones who are unable to cry "Injustice!"

If I can be of help to you with these or any other state matter, please do not hesitate to contact me by one of the following means: